One of the things South Africa kept pressing on me is that there is no such thing as reading Scripture from nowhere. We all stand somewhere when we read. Our social location, our history, our race, our experience of power or powerlessness, and the people sitting beside us all affect what we hear and what we fail to hear.

I am a privileged bastard. I could travel freely through Ireland and South Africa for a month, then board a plane and return to the comfort of my home. Meanwhile, people I sat with in Langa were carving letter openers and selling refrigerator magnets, hoping to earn enough money to feed their children.

by. Jason Burkett (US Army veteran and M.A. in Peace & Justice student) I joined the Army twice. The first time (1989-1996), I was a junior in high school, the summer before my senior year. My dad was a truck driver, my mom was a teacher, and we didn’t have much money. I knew my parents couldn’t afford to send both my sister and me to college, and back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, it was all anyone talked about: college, college, college. My dad had served in Vietnam. My

I want to congratulate you all, every single one of you, students and friends, spouses, alumni, teachers, administrators, children, parents, all of you. Everyone. Congratulations to all of you who are graduating on the hard work and the met deadlines and the missed deadlines, and the anguish and the joy and the, “What am I doing this for?” And the, “I’m not good enough,” and, “What do I do with it now?” And, “What comes next?”